


Speak French To Me

by CallMeHopeless



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, M/M, Studying
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-03
Updated: 2018-07-18
Packaged: 2019-06-04 17:42:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 11
Words: 13,629
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15152342
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CallMeHopeless/pseuds/CallMeHopeless
Summary: When Arthur is about to be kicked out of University because he has failed his French test twice and has one last chance, Merlin takes it upon himself to help Arthur study.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Guys, this is pure self-help for me as I have a super important French test coming up in 2 weeks and I simply cannot get it into my head and keep procrastinating and writing/reading fic so I figured why not do this? So I'm basically posting this in case it helps someone else as well. There is very little plot here (but there will be pining and flirting and kissing because I like that stuff.) and loads of you know, grammar stuff and French learning (or so I hope) and the rating is for swearing because I simply have to when it comes to me studying languages hah! 
> 
> huge, huge, HUGE shout-out to the amazing Saturne to keeps answering all of my French-related questions and keeps reading over my texts as is being all around wonderful! Thank you so much, seriously!!

Chapter 1: tout, tous, toute and toutes

 

Arthur groaned in frustration as he looked at his grade sheet on his laptop. He'd flunked elementary French _again._

He was sitting in his favourite coffee shop but his brain wasn't even able to register the noise around him anymore. Wasn't able to comprehend the people talking around him, laughing, the sound of the machines working, the baristas taking orders.... all of it just white noise. It all came down to this: Arthur had failed French again.

 

He didn't even know why exactly he had such a problem with the language, other than the simple and easy way out namely that languages just weren't his thing. Honestly though? He knew that he just did more for his other subjects. Uther would have his head if he had one single of his business classes that wasn't graded with a straight A. Hence, Arthur studied a lot of business. And went to a lot of football practices (mainly to keep himself sane) and hung out a lot with his friends (for his mental health). There simply wasn't a lot of time for bloody French.

 

And now he failed the exam. For the second time. He'd gotten an E-Mail from his professor telling him that there would be a make-up exam in two weeks time and that that would be his last chance or he would flunk much much more than just his French test.

 

Fuck, Arthur thought, his hands starting to shake not even able to contemplate what that would mean for his university career. Which would be over. Completely and utterly done with if he didn't pass that test.

 

“Two weeks,” he whispered breathlessly, still staring a his laptop screen.

 

“Two weeks what?” someone asked next to him and Arthur was pulled out of his stupor. He'd completely forgotten that his best mate was sat beside him. Merlin, who of course was done taking French by now. Not just the elementary courses but had his DELF C certificates at home already.

 

“Failed French,” is all Arthur was able to say.

He couldn't look at Merlin either. He didn't think he couldn't take his gaze on him right now, couldn't take those big blue eyes full of pity. What if he did fail his course? What if he had to quit university? He wouldn't get to sit here with Merlin anymore. And huh, if that wasn't the scariest thought in the whole world.

 

When he did finally look up, Merlin looked at him with a set jaw and determination in his eyes.

“What the fuck, Pendragon? It's the second time!”

 

Arthur nodded.

“I know.”

 

“If you fail this, you're finished.”

 

“I know.”

 

Merlin nodded once and shut his own laptop.

 

“Get your stuff out. Next two weeks is going to be _French hell_ for you.”

 

Arthur smiled, despite himself.

 

“Is it?”

 

“Quit grinning and get to work. I swear, I will absolutely fucking kill you if you're gonna make me go through the rest of uni without your sorry arse. Now let's get to it.”

 

Arthur only hesitated for a moment before getting all of his books out. If Merlin was this determined, there was no arguing with him. And Arthur certainly wasn't going to if it was going to get him a passing grade on his test. If it got him more one-on-one time with Merlin he wasn't complaining either if he was completely honest, even though he was a little concerned about Merlin speaking French to him for two weeks. Merlin certainly didn't need to know that Arthur found that dead sexy. Actually, Merlin didn't need to know a lot of things. Arthur's ever growing crush was just on top of that list and if he was going to be around Merlin (“joined by the fucking hip Pendragon until you pass that fucking test”) for fourteen days, that was going to be a challenge.

 

****

  
“Alright,” Merlin nodded and looked at the first part of the mock exam Arthur had gotten during the preparation period of the course.

“So this is for the distinction between _tout, tous, toute_ and _toutes_. What are they, Arthur?”

Arthur was already tired and they'd only covered the absolute basics so far. They had only just begun with the mock exam and he was well in need of a break. At least he thought so. Apparently Merlin thought differently judging by the expecting look he threw him.

“It means 'all' or 'whole', right?”

Merlin nodded.

“Explain.”

“Well,” Arthur sat up straight.

“First off, we have _tous_ and _toutes_ which are used for plural. So you have _tous_ which is for masculine plural for example _tous les étudiants_ so all of the male students and you have _toutes_ which is for the feminine plural for example _toutes les étudiantes_ – all of the female students, yeah?” he looked at Merlin for confirmation.

 

Merlin nodded, smiling at him softly.

 

Arthur felt encouraged to continue: “Right, and _tout_ and _toute_ are for singular use. So _tout_ is masculine e.g. _tout le groupe_ – the whole group and _toute_ is feminine as in _toute la classe_ – the whole class,” he finishes.

 

“Good,” Merlin clears his throat, “yeah, good. Do you know any other words to define an undetermined amount of something?”

 

Arthur thinks for a bit.

“ _Quelques_?” he says slowly. Merlin nods. “Which means?”

“Some?”

“Are you asking me or telling me?”

Arthur cleared his throat.

“Telling you.”

“Alright, go on.”

“Er,” he thought really hard but nothing more came to mind so he finally just shrugged.

Merlin nodded.

“Alright, we also have _plusieurs_ , which means several and _chaque_ , every and _certain(e)s_ and _d'autres_ which means some. And _aucun(e)_ , which means none.”

Arthur nodded while scribbling alone on his notebook and finally presenting it to Merlin to check his spelling.

“Like this?” he asked and earned a nod and a grin.

“Yep,” Merlin sounded content.

“Remember though, _quelques_ is always plural. Should be obvious because it means several but I'm saying it just in case and also, _tous_ and _toutes_ combined with an indication of time has the meaning of _chaque_. So if you have _tous les jours_ that means every day and it's more common than saying _chaque jour_. Same goes for _toutes les nuits_ – every night, which could also be _chaque nuit._ ”

 

Arthur nodded, thankful for Merlin's input. Merlin grinned and shut his book.

“Alright, that's the first task done. Want to do some vocab and verbs to finish the first session then?”

 

Arthur doesn't. Arthur very much doesn't. Arthur nods anyway.

 

“Right,” Merlin says, looking around the café, trying to think.

“Give me 'stupidity', 'great' and 'husband' and while you're at it, give me 'to marry' as well.”

 

Arthur gaped at Merlin.

“Okay one, how the fuck am I supposed to know those words? And who how the fuck did you come up with them?”

Merlin just shrugged, looking pointedly in the corner of the café, a slow blush creeping onto his features. Arthur looked in the same direction and witnessed the end of the overly cheesy proposal that obviously just had taken place at one of the tables across the room.

 

“Fair point,” he said swallowing hard because he really didn't want to think about why Merlin thought husband and to marry belonged in the same category as stupidity. He really didn't.

 

“Well?” Merlin prompted and Arthur wrecked his brain.

“Stupidity could be _la bêtise_? Uhm, great is _formidable_ , husband is _le mari_ and to marry is... _se marier_?” he scrunched up his nose at the last one, everything but sure about his memory.

Merlin smiled in his coffee as he took a sip.

 

“ _Tu es un idiot,_ Arthur _, tu le sais_?”

 

Arthur rolled his eyes, running his hand through his hair.

“ _Ta gueule_.”

 

Merlin's grin widened.

“I have no idea how you flunked that test, Arthur. Might be that you focussed on the wrong vocab? Chop chop now, I give you three verbs and you do the conjugating. Uhm... talk, finish, to give back and uhm... to buy – Go!”

 

Arthur rolled his eyes but obliged:

“Right, Talk, _parler_ so: _je parle, tu parles, il/elle parle, nous parlons, vous parlez, ils/elles parlent_ ”

Merlin nodded.

“Finish, _finir: je finis,tu finis, il finit, nous finissons, vous finissez, ils finissent_.”

“Yes, go on.”

“Give back, _rendre: je rends, tu rends, il rend, nous rendons, vous rendez, ils rendent_.”

“Last one and then you're free, I promise.”

“To buy - _acheter_... oh Merlin, this is one of those bloody irregulars, right? Uh, _J'achète, tu achètes, il achète nous achetons, vous achetez, ils achetènt._ I hate those.”

 

Merlin giggled.

“Everyone does in every single language they need to learn. Now. Your place or mine? I fancy take away and a film, don't you?”

Arthur nodded enthusiastically.

“Thank god, I was afraid when you said French hell that I would be literally in-”

“Louis de Funes sound good?”

 

He was literally in French hell, Arthur thought as he trotted after Merlin. As long as Merlin was with him though, he didn't mind one bit. And if Merlin kept speaking the language so beautifully? He thought he might even enjoy it.

 


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2: The negative

 

Arthur looked at Merlin's sleeping form and smiled. His friend never was able to make it through a whole film, which was why Arthur always picked movies he really wanted to see whenever watching one with Merlin. As it turned out, he needn't have worried with Louis de Funes because the man was a genius and Arthur had been at risk of waking Merlin up the entire time because he was laughing so hard.

 

And now? Now it was morning and Merlin was still sleeping on Arthur's sofa. Oh how Arthur wished he could have just carried him to his own bed. He was quite sure the sofa was incredibly uncomfortable but he hadn't dared. Not for his sake or for Merlin's. Not that he would ever try anything, mind. But just the proximity of Merlin sleeping so close to him might be more than he could take, he thought.

 

He quickly shook his head and made his way to the kitchen, making a fresh batch of coffee before trying to sneak back into the living room. He got his notebook and his French book out. Merlin's shock at his revelation the day before had been so heartbreaking that he felt like he needed to make an extra effort. He couldn't bear to do anything with his life but study with Merlin, graduate with Merlin and then... _something_ with Merlin.

 

He took a look at the next task and groaned. Putting sentences in the negative. He'd never been very good at that. There were just too many rules to consider, too many letters to overlook and if you did overlook a single one of them, you'd already made a mistake. He sighed and pulled out the textbook entry.

 

**Rule 1:**

**ne + conjugated verb + pas**

 

easy enough, right?

 

Arthur scowled at the book. There was actually a cartoon-y owl next to a chart that was supposed to tell him how easy it all was. Right then.

 

 _Il ne parle pas francais._ (The textbook did understand him better than he thought)

 

He studied the sentence and thought it looked easy enough. But he knew that he would think otherwise when the sentences were longer and more complicated because that always was when he got confused.

 

He worked his way through the chart and noted down:

 

 _Nous ne voyageons plus_. (We don't travel anymore)

 _Je ne vais jamais au cinéma._ (I never go to the cinema)

 _Il ne sait rien._ (He knows nothing)

 _Elle ne connaît personne à l'université._ (She doesn't know anyone at university)

 _Ils n'ont pas de fleurs dans leur appartement._ (They don't have flowers in their apartment)

 

Fucking terrific, Arthur thought as he looked at the sentences again. He thought he could get away with throwing ne...pas in there but apparently he had to learn different sorts of saying no? Were there different sorts of saying no in English? Yes, he concluded, of course there were, he was just being daft.

 

He was just about to draw himself a graph and putting all of the sentences in there in order to remember them better, when Merlin stirred.

 

“ _Bonjour_ ,” Merlin mumbled, running one hand through his hair, voice raspy from sleep and eyes still half closed.

Arthur almost dropped his pen.

 

“Morning.”

 

“ _T'étudies déja_?”

 

Arthur nodded, not trusting himself to speak as Merlin slowly pushed himself off the sofa and walked in Arthur's direction.

 

“There is... coffee in...”

 

“In French, _s'il te plaît_.”

 

Merlin had the absolute audacity to smirk. Arthur gulped. He could do this. Couldn't he? He could. Not. Oh god, what had he gotten himself into?

 

“Uhm, _il y a_... er... _du café_? _Dans la... dans la cuisine_.”

 

Merlin was watching him with an amused smirk playing around his lips. He nodded.

“ _Merci_ ,” he grinned before he vanished through the door. Arthur could hear him rummaging through his cupboards and shook his head, trying to make himself focus. FOCUS, goddamnit.

 

He took a look at the exam questions regarding negative answers and wanted to cry on the spot:

 

_Est-ce que Florence passait parfois ses soirées en compagnie de ses collègues?_

 

He couldn't do it. He simply could not do it. He practically stared at the sentence and slowly, the words seemed to blur in front of his eyes, they seemed to vanish and he felt the beginnings of tears prickling, trying to come to the surface. There was a strange ringing sound in his ears and he felt his hands starting to shake.

 

He simply couldn't do it. He hadn't even noticed that his breath had quickened, not until there was a hand on his back, rubbing circles on it in a soothing motion and Merlin's voice finally got through to him:

  
“Breathe! Jesus, Arthur, just breathe will you?”

 

When Arthur looked up, he could see the worry in Merlin's eyes as he sat down next to him, placing his coffee cup on the table.

 

He tried to calm down and managed somewhat, a lingering sense of unease still remaining. As did the hand on his back.

 

“Want to tell me what happened there?”

 

Arthur shook his head. He didn't really. He felt embarrassed. He didn't even know what happened.

 

He sighed.

 

“I just can't do it, Merlin. I can't. I look at the easy sentences and I go okay man, this is doable. And I look at the sentences from the mock exam and my brain just goes nope, no way in fucking hell that you are going to read a single one of these words and make sense of them.”

 

Merlin nodded and studied the sentence.

 

“Okay, would it help if we broke it up into parts? If you didn't try to look at the sentence as a whole at first but at the words that you know? I understand that it can be overwhelming especially if you expect to not know a word in there and then you panic, believe me I've been there. But let's just...”

 

Merlin placed his hand over the whole sentence until only the first word was visible.

 

“ _Est-ce que_ ,” he said softly and looked at Arthur.

 

“Is... or do.”

 

Merlin nodded, smiling. Arthur took a deep breath.

 

“Florence.”

 

“Name.”

 

“ _passait_ :”

 

Arthur stilled. He had absolutely no idea whatsoever. He said so and Merlin nodded.

 

“Okay so, if you are in this situation and you don't know what it means, you just don't give a fuck for the moment alright? And we try to figure it out later, yeah? Okay, so next one. _Parfois_.”

 

“Sometimes,” Arthur says.

 

“ _Ses soirées_ ”

 

“her evenings”

 

Merlin nudged him softly.

“You're doing so well, you idiot. _En compagnie_?”

 

“in the company?”

 

“ _de ses collègues_ ”

 

“of her colleagues.”

 

Merlin nodded.

“Right, so knowing what we now know, what would you say _passait_ could mean?”

 

Arthur looked the whole sentence over again and again and again.

“Maybe something like... spend? As in Does she spend her evenings in the company of her colleagues?”

 

Merlin's eyes seemed to absolutely sparkle as he regarded Arthur.

“That's exactly what it means. But does she?”

 

Arthur tried to remember the task at hand. Negatives.

“No.”

 

“No. So tell me. Tell me how she doesn't do that.”

 

“ _Non, elle ne... passait... jamais ses soirées en compagnie de ses collègues_?”

 

The hand that had vanished from his back sometime during the exercise was back, squeezing his shoulder.

 

“Yes, Arthur, yes. Wonderful. _C'est très bien_.”

 

Merlin was beaming.

And Arthur was feeling much better already. How could he not?

 

“You ready for some superlatives though?” Merlin nudged him and was already looking for the right place in the book.

 

“Can we not take a break?”

 

“Alright. Let's get some lunch. And then, then we're going to talk comparatives and superlatives, yeah?”

 

***  
  
“So this is actually quite okay,” Arthur said smiling and looking down at his text book.

“ _moins_ something _que_ is less than, _aussi_ something _que_ is the same and... what uh, _plus_ something _que_ is more than, yeah?”

 

Merlin nodded.

 

“And if we put _le, la_ or _les_ in front of the _plus_ or _moins_ then it's the best or worst so the superlative.”

 

“Exactly,” Merlin grinned.

“So you have _Arthur est le plus stupide_.”

 

“Hey,” Arthur grinned back, despite himself.

“ _Merlin est l'ami le moins gentil_!”

 

Merlin laughed out loud and Arthur had about a second to admire how beautiful it sounded.

“Seriously, one could think you flunked that test on purpose, you're quite alright.”

 

 “Yeah, if I get bite sized sentences I'm fine. If I stay in the present I'm fine. If I don't have to do bloody math while counting I'm fine....” Arthur trailled off, trying not to talk himself into another panic attack or whatever the bloody fuck he had experienced that morning.

 

Merlin must have noticed the change in his mood because he decided to carry on: “Be careful though in case it just says _'bon'_ . What do you do when it says ' _bon'_?”

 

Arthur knew that there was something special about _bon_. He just blanked. Or didn't know in the first place, which was just as likely. So he just decided to shake his head.

 

Merlin sighed.

“Right, so the comparative for _bon_ or the female _bonne_ is _meilleur_ – or _meilleure_. Which means better. So _Merlin est meilleur que Arthur, d'accord_? And for the superlativ you use _le_ or _la_ again. So _Merlin est le meilleur_. Merlin is the best.”

 

He showed Arthur his biggest grin and Arthur smiled back weakly, suddenly feeling quite exhausted.

 

“Is there a word for worst idiot in the world as well?”

 

“Yes, it's 'Arthur'.”

 

“Idiot.”

 

“Clotpole.”

 

Arthur snorted.

 

“No, but seriously, there are actually two words. So there is _mauvaise_ which is bad, _pire_ , worse and _le/la/les pire(s)_ the worst in the sense that something something is horrible. And then there is _mauvaise_ with the comparative _plus mauvais(e)(s)_ and the superlative _la/le/les plus mauvais(e)(s)_ which just means plain old bad.”

 

Arthur put his head in his hands.

“What the actual fuck?”

 

Merlin nodded.

“I know.”

 

Arthur sighed.

“Why?”

 

“You ask that now but trust me, you ask that in every language. Did you know that you use different words for counting in Japanese depending on what you count? So you use different numbers if you count electronic devices or people or... I don't know, paper. So shut up and learn your cute little French words.”

 

Arthur couldn't very well argue with that. But he did make a mental note to check whether or not Merlin had told him the truth about because if he had he knew which language he wouldn't be studying next (turned out: Merlin had told the truth).

 

***  
  
The sun had already gone down and Arthur felt like his brain only consisted of mush. He was grateful That Merlin took the time and energy to help him but at the same time he didn't know if he could stand the close proximity for two weeks. Couldn't stand the smiles and the casual touches for two weeks. He already felt a certain emotional rawness after only a day.

 

“Right. Vocab and then I'll let you go,” Merlin announced happily but even he looked somewhat tired and worn.

 

“Give me courtyard, light up, to give, arrival and uh, to send.”

 

Arthur nodded and thought for a minute.

 

“Right, so... _la cour... allumer, donner, venue_ and _envoyer_?”

 

Merlin smiled at him.

“I see, I'll have to make them harder next time. Okay mister, conjugating, give me... to pass, to send while we're at it and uhm why not give me to do?”

 

Arthur grinned, he had this. At least part of it.

“Okay, starting with to do because this is easy. _Faire: je fais, tu fais, il fait, nous faisons, vous faites, ils font_.”

 

Merlin just smiled a secret little smile as if he was counting on Arthur acing this part. Arthur didn't really know if he was thankful or annoyed at that. He knew that he found the smile adorable, though.

 

“ _To pass is passer so je passe, tu passes, il passe, nous passons, vous passez, ils passent_.”

 

“One more and maybe, maybe I'll make you some pasta if you get this right,” Merlin promised and Arthur understood that twinkling in Merlin's eye.

  
“Fuck, this is a irregular one then. Right. Uh,” he thought about it long and hard and finally settled on:

“ _Envoyer, j'envoie, tu envoies, il envoie, nous envoyons, vous envoyez, ils envoient_.”

 

He squeezed his eyes shut, partly because he didn't want to disappoint Merlin and partly because he was really really hungry and wanted that pasta.

 

Merlin didn't say anything for what seemed like minutes but must've been mere seconds before Arthur heard the chair scraping.

 

“ _Alors, allons à la cuisine, Arthur. Tu le mérites_.”

 

And well, Arthur didn't have to be told that twice.

 


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3: adverbs

 

Arthur couldn't believe that this was only day three of what Merlin had started to frequently call “French Hell”. Arthur didn't even know anymore if the 'French' part was the hell part or if it was the close proximity to his best friend that sent his mind reeling.

 

Probably both. Merlin had only gone home once to pack an overnight bag and had come back to Arthur's flat with an extra blanket and pillow under his arm.

 

“Why are you doing this?” Arthur had asked but Merlin had just smiled and said nothing. Instead, he'd settled on Arthur's couch despite Arthur's insistence he at least take the bed if he was planning to stay over for two bloody weeks.

 

He had to pass this test. If not for him, then for Merlin. And he knew it.

 

***  
  
“ _Alors, Arthur, nous allons continuer avec les adverbes, d'accord?”_

 

Arthur sighed.

 

“Oui.”

 

“Right, so. We have adverbs that are derived from adjectives, yeah? Our adjectives are either feminine or masculine, always depending on the subject they are describing. For example _Arthur est un garçon sérieux, oui_? If we were to talk about your sister, we'd say _Morgana est une fille serieuse_. Now. The adverbs are often based on the female form and we just add _-ment_ to them, yeah? So we have _régulièrement, certainement, généralement_ and so on. Though be careful, there are exceptions. For example: _gentiment_ , which comes from _gentille_. Don't ask me why, though.”

 

Merlin shrugged and grinned apologetically at Arthur.

“I just learned these things by heart.”

 

Arthur just ran his hand through his hair, trying not to let his exasperation show too strongly on his face. He had no idea how the hell he was supposed to learn all this in only two weeks time.

 

“Okay, rule two. If we have an adjective whose masculine form end on a,i,o or u but **not** e, we take that one and add _-ment_. So that's _vraiment_ , for example. _Joliment, poliment, absolument_ , yeah?”

 

Arthur nodded again, writing notes down in his notebook. Merlin waited until Arthur finished writing before he continued.

 

“Okay, last rule. If the masculine adjective ends on _-ant_ we add - _amment_ and if it ends on _-ent_ we add _-emment_. For example _élégant_ turns into _élégamment_ , constant turns to _constamment_ , _prudent_ turns to _prudemment_ and _évident_ turns into _évidemment_ , okay?”

 

Arthur nodded. How many bloody rules were there?”

 

“That's it though, yeah?”

 

Merlin furrowed his brow and started biting on the end of his pencil while staring down on his text book.

 

“Yeah. I mean there are a couple of you know... Uhm, well you know what, there are a couple of adverbs you already know that will never ever need something add to it but they might throw it in to irritate you? Remember to keep them as they are? Those are for example _encore, peu, beaucoup, bien, mal, super_... you get the picture. But yeah... that's about it. Ready for some exercises?”

 

No, Arthur wanted to say. Definitely not ready for bloody exercises. He nodded instead.

 

Merlin gave him a list with words, written in his handwriting. Arthur would always marvel at the neat and tidy way Merlin wrote even under great stress. He'd always tried achieving that but to no avail. The list said:

 

_bruyant_

_vrai_

_prudent_

_régulier_

_gentil_

_exceptionnel_

_affreux_

_absolu_

_heureux_

_final_

_simple_

 

“So,” Arthur said.

“ _Bruyant_ ends on ' _ant_ ' so that's rule 3, so _bruyamment_ , yeah? Uhm, _vraiment_ , rule 2, _prudemment_ , rule 3 again, _régulièrement_ that's rule 1, _gentiment_ that's the exception, _exceptionnellement_ , rule 1, _affreusement_ rule 1 again, _absolument_ , rule 2, _heureusement_ , rule 1, _finalement_ , rule 1 aaaaand _simple_ is you trying to trick me. Is that correct?”

 

He glanced nervously at Merlin, truly terrified of being wrong. He thought he'd really paid attention

 

“ _C'est parfait_ , Arthur. _Très bien. Vraiment_.”

 

Arthur couldn't help but beam.

 

***  
  
Merlin yawned before he loudly announced:

“Vocab time!”

 

“Nooo,” Arthur tried to protest. He hated learning vocabulary. He knew it was absolutely necessary, of course he did. But that didn't mean he wanted to do it. Especially not now when they had just been sitting next to each other on the sofa, oh so comfortably. His shoulder was pressed against Merlin's and he felt drowsy and warm and safe.

 

“Yes, Arthur, yes. Let's fucking _go_.” Merlin looked around the flat for inspiration. Or not, Arthur concluded because what Merlin said was:

“Give me: health, accident, headache and bandage.”

 

Arthur raised an eyebrow but decided not to comment.

“Uhm, _la santé, l'accident_ – male article though, _maux de tête_? Yeah? Because it's usually plural? If not, _mal de tête_ and uhm _le bandage_.”

 

Merlin nodded.

“Good. Now,”

 

He leaned into Arthur a bit more and Arthur felt like he couldn't breathe for a moment. How the hell was he supposed to concentrate on bloody French vocabulary if he could smell Merlin's cologne and feel him move against him?

Merlin seemed oblivious to all of his internal turmoil though, because he just continued:

 

“Verbs. Well to... have to? I suppose, sale and uh to tell.”

 

“Is that _devoir_?”

 

Merlin nodded, looking tired and worn.

 

“Alright, _je dois, tu dois, il doit, nous devons, vous devez, ils doivent._ ”

 

He paused, thinking if that was correct but realising that he couldn't do better, he moved on:

“to sell, is _vendre_. So _je vends, tu vends, il vend, nous vendons, vous vendez, ils vendent_... And to tell is _raconter_ , uh, _je raconte, tu racontes, il raconte, nous racontons, vous racontez, ils racontent_ , yeah?”

 

Merlin nodded once more, eyes already half-lidded and Arthur truly couldn't blame him. He was just as exhausted.

“You're doing really well, Arthur. At this rate you won't leave me.”

With that, he just leaned to the side and placed his head comfortably on Arthur's shoulder.

 

It was only a little while later, when Arthur had recovered from the sensation of Merlin's head on his shoulder, that he was able to reply:

“I would never leave you, Merlin...”

But by then, Merlin was already fast asleep.

 


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> very very short one today, sorry!

Chapter 4: Questions

 

“Arthur, _Qu'est-ce que tu fais_?”

 

“What?”

 

“ _Qu'est-ce que tu fais_?”

 

“What?”

 

“Ah, for fucks sake, what are you doing?”

 

“Oh, I'm... making breakfast.”

 

Merlin stared at him, face blank.

 

“Right. We're gonna learn asking questions today.”

 

Arthur scrunched up his nose, already feeling whinge-y. He had a headache and he just wanted to enjoy his breakfast in peace before... all of _that_.

 

“ _Nous étudions les questions Arthur. Tu as vingt minutes. Apporte du café,_ ” he said evenly and vanished into the bathroom. A couple of minutes later, Arthur could hear the shower being turned on. Of course, Arthur dutifully started on a fresh batch of coffee, sighing and asking himself how this had become his life.

 

***  
  
“ _Alors, les questions sont très importantes_ ,” Merlin started while opening the text book and Arthur just stared at Merlin's still damp hair falling around his ears. What was he supposed to be doing again? Right, French.

 

“So, Arthur, ask me if I am late.”

 

“What?”

 

Merlin rolled his eyes as if Arthur was being purposefully dense.

 

“As me if I am late.”

 

“Er, _Tu es en retard_?”

 

“Alright, can you make it a bit even more... formal?”

 

“Are you trying to make me use _Est-ce que_?”

 

“If you know what I'm trying to do, why don't you just bloody do it?”

 

Arthur nodded, sensing that Merlin was in no mood for banter and got to it:

 

“ _Est-ce que tu es en retard_?”

 

“Good, now... can you do the inver-”

 

“ _Es-tu en retard_.”

 

Merlin stared at him long and hard. “Yes.”

 

Arthur scratched his head in thought. “There was something about inserting a _t_ somewhere though, yeah? When was that?”

 

“That's when you have two vowels. So when you have e _lle regarde sa montre_. And you do the inversion, you'd have _Regarde-elle_. Which sounds weird because you have two _e'_ s. So you put a _t_ in between. _Regarde-t-elle. Regarde-t-elle sa montre. D'accord_?”

 

Arthur nodded in understanding. “ _D'accord_.”

 

“Good. Now, all of the things we've just discussed can be used for questions that can be answered with a yes or a no. If you need the person you're asking to elaborate, you ask different questions. You usually take a statement and you throw a question word in there. Which question words do you know?”

Arthur thought about it before slowly trying to list them:

 

“ _Où_? Where? _Pourquoi_? Why? _Comment_? How? _Combien_? How much? _Quand_? When? And _Que_ , what. Yeah?”

 

Merlin nodded, seemingly satisfied. “Don't forget _D'où_ , though, that's where from. Other than that, good, Arthur, good! So, for example... How much is the fruit?”

 

“ _Combien coûte le fruit_?”

 

“Yeah,” Merlin actually smiled while rubbing his temple.

 

“ _Tu as mal à la tête?_ ” Arthur asked, worry evident in his voice.

 

Merlin's smile widened a bit.

 

“ _Oui, un peu. Mais, c'est ok_.”

 

Arthur nodded, clenching his jaw nonetheless. He vowed to himself to be especially sharp so that they could wrap this particular session up pretty quickly and he could run Merlin a bath or... something. Was that something friends did? Run their friends a bath? He hoped so because that's what he'd do.

 

The only thing left to discuss were the male and female forms of _quel_ anyway (“be careful there, Arthur. It always depends on the word which _quel_ asks for. So _nom_ is masculine, hence you ask: _Quel est votre nom_? And _adresse_ for example is feminine so it's _Quelle est votre adresse_?”) as well as the singular and plural forms (“ _Quels sont vos loisirs_?” vs. “ _Quelles sont vos préférences_?”).

 

As it turned out, Merlin was infinitely grateful for that bath and Arthur was pretty damn satisfied with himself for having the idea if he said so himself. He decided that if the two of them were to make it through the next 9 days with each other, they might as well get as comfortable as they could. It simply wouldn't do if they exerted themselves too quickly after all.

 


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> because it's coming home and I just couldn't not with Bradley being all fangirl-y and stuff :)

Chapter 5: Passé composé

 

Saturday found Arthur with a lot of nervous energy. And Merlin feeling much better, luckily (if he'd found it weird that Arthur had run him a bath, he hadn't shown it. Quite the opposite in fact. Arthur's knees had almost given out at the bright smile he'd received as thanks).

“What has gotten into you,” he laughed as Arthur kept jumping up and down in his seat.

“Big match today,” Arthur panted, “I was hoping we could be done before three, actually.”

 

Merlin nodded. He didn't much care for football. Arthur knew this but this was the world cup and this was the English team, his team and he simply had to watch this.

“Sure,” Merlin said finally, “you'll just have to learn it much quicker then, won't you?”

 

Arthur just nodded, knowing which battles to fight – this not being one of them – and instantly took a look at today's lesson: the passé composé.

 

“Really? Today of all days? This is so hard, Merlin! I can't possibly learn this before five o'clock,” he was outraged but Merlin merely shrugged.

 

“Well, you have an incentive now, don't you? See Harry Kane and whatnot. So. Do your passé composé and I'll let you drool over him in peace.”

 

Arthur squinted his eyes.

 

“I'll do my passé composé and you watch it with me.”

 

“Passé composé and outstanding vocab work and I'll sit next to you while you watch.”

 

Arthur's face brightened.

 

“Deal!”

 

Merlin shook his head in fond exasperation.

 

“Well then, prat, let's begin.”

 

***  
  
“So. I need you to really focus on this one, Arthur. This is important. This has loads of rules and I need you to get this right, yeah? Right. Good. Rule one. We usually conjugate _avoir_ and use the participle perfect. Do conjugate _avoir_ for me?”

 

“ _J'ai, tu as, il a, nous avons, vous avez, ils ont_ ,” Arthur said without pause. This was easy. He had this.

 

“Good. Now. Rule for the participles. If you have a verb that ends on _-er_ , it will now end on an _é_. However, you have some irregular verbs that differ from that rule but we'll come to that later. So. We have _regarder_ , what do you do?”

 

“ _J'ai regardé_?” Arthur asked, somehow unsure.

 

Merlin seemed satisfied and buried his head in the book again.

 

“Now, sometimes you have some verbs that end on _-ir_ and they often end with an _-i_ in the passé composé for example _réfléchir_ which turns to _réfléchi_. Or uh, some that end on _-re_ and those could end on a _-u_ for example _attendre_ which turns unto _attendu_. But I'd advise you to just learn all of those by heart, yeah?”

 

Arthur nodded weakly, making notes on his notepad.

 

“Good. Next rule. Or, well. Thing. Really, uhm. So funny how we're using _avoir_ to kind of use the _passé composé_ right? So we use it with the actual word _avoir_ as well.”

 

Arthur groaned. “What? I thought that one went with _être_?”

“No, nah. Uh-huh. No. So, _J'ai eu. Tu as eu. Il a eu_. You get it. _Eu_ being the thing here. Uh, yeah. So. _Eu. Avoir_. Yes, learn that.”

 

He paused.

 

“Good. Now, we use _avoir_ with _être_ as well. So _être_ being one of the irregulars and turning into _été_ here. So _J'ai été_. Fairly simple this one, yeah?”

 

Arthur could get his head around that one. It was a bit easier than the _eu_ after all. Where the hell did _eu_ come from? There was not a single _e_ or _u_ in _avoir_? Where the hell? How? Who did think of that even? Probably someone who wanted to mock Arthur specifically.

 

“Now, we literally only have a handful of words that we need to use être for in order to build the _passé composé_. Those are _aller, (re)venir, parvenir, monter, descendre, tomber, sortir, (r)entrer, retourner, naître, devenir, mourir, arriver, rester, partir_ and _passer_.”

 

Arthur nodded.

 

“So those are kind of all very... to be or not to be, yeah?”

 

Merlin thought for a bit and then laughed out loud. “Kinda, yeah, I suppose. I mean it is a bit dramatic that you need a different word to put to live and to die into the past, yeah?”

 

“And to come, to go... to rise and to fall... to arrive and to leave... it's all very poetic.”

 

Merlin smirked and looked at Arthur from the corner of his eye.

  
“Didn't know you had a thing for poetry, Arthur.”

 

“Well, maybe there are things you don't know about me.”

 

“Like you thinking about poetry?”

 

“Yeah?”

 

“Poetry about... what, living and dying?”

 

“Yep.”

 

“Coming and going?”

 

“You got it.”

 

“Rising and falling?”

 

“Can be tough.”

 

“Arriving and leaving?”

 

“Hardest thing you'll ever do.”

 

Merlin burst out laughing at that point.

 

“Alright, as long as you'll just remember that in your exam, I'll be happy. Maybe even take you out for a poetry reading or something after, yeah? I hear the café down the road does these political poetry slams we ought to check out.”

 

“It's a date.”

 

Arthur didn't dare look at Merlin then. It just slipped out but he absolutely refused to take it back. Whatever happened happened. He was in no position to not enjoy these days to the fullest just in case they were the last days he would enjoy by Merlin's side like this.

 

“It's a date,” Merlin said and cleared his throat.

 

“Anyway, until then, do conjugate être for me, oh great poet Arthur?”

 

Arthur only barely resisted sticking his tongue out at his friend and instead recited:

“ _Je suis, tu es, il est, nous sommes, vous êtes, ils sont_.”

 

“Good. Now, fairly easy this one, they end on _-é_ as well. Only that female speakers get an extra _-e_. So if you're born, it's _Arthur est né_. _Morgana est née_. Makes sense?”

 

Arthur nodded. Yeah I suppose.

 

“Good. Also, more than one person? We add an s. They were born? _Ils sont nés_. They were females? _Elles sont nées_. Yeah?”

 

Another nod.

 

“In general, the _passé composé_ is used to describe an action or a moment that has pased and is definitely over by now, yeah?” Merlin grinned.

 

“We'll learn another form of past later and we'll try to differentiate which one is better to use at which moment in time, sound good?”

 

“Yep. All for it.”

 

“Good. Other than that, I'm really proud, this is going really well.”

 

Arthur couldn't help but beam.

 

“Good. Now last thing. We also kind of sort of use _être_ with out reflexive verbs. But this is simple, yeah? So you just do it like you'd normally would and but the _me, te, se, nous, vous_ or _se_ in front of your _être_. Let me give you a for instance: _se laver_. It's _Je me suis lavé, tu t'es lavé, il s'est lavé, nous nous sommes lavés, vous vous êtes lavés_ and _ils se sont lavés_.”

 

Arthur thought that sounded everything but easy but wrote it all down nevertheless. He just hoped that he could remember all of that. He wouldn't even know what to do if he couldn't.

 

***

  
At around four, Merlin smiled happily while glancing at his watch.

 

“Well done, Arthur. Loads of time to spare, too. So. How about we do the vocab now and then you can do your football thing?”

 

“We are doing the football thing,” Arthur reminded him, already having gotten his jersey out while they had a small break for lunch. Merlin had laughed at him for parading his nerdiness around but Arthur had just grinned and stroked the three lions on his shirt with pride.

 

“Okay, so, vocab. Give me football, the player, the team, the match.”

 

“Easy, Merlin, you're so easy: _le foot, le joueur, l’équipe, le match de football_.”

 

Merlin smiled an easy smile and leaned back in his chair.

 

“Fair enough. Good, verbs then. To come, to know and to can.”

 

Arthur groaned.

 

“Those are all bloody irregulars!”

 

Merlin just shrugged. “And I have a couple of sentences for you to translate afterwards, too, so chop chop.”

 

“Alright... To come, ve _nir. Je viens, tu viens, il vient, nous venons, vous venez, ils viennent_.”

 

Merlin nodded.

 

“”To know, _savoir, Je sais, tu sais, il sait, nous savons, vous savez, ils savent_.”

 

“Good.”

 

“Can, _pouvoir, je peux, tu peux, il peut, nous pouvons, vous pouvez, ils peuvent_.”

 

“Good. Good. Now, I have like... three sentences and depending on whether or not you get them right I'll even head down to the corner shop and get us some beers for the game, deal?”

 

That made Arthur sit up straight, his eyes shining with determination.

 

“Bring it on.”

 

“Harry Kane is a beautiful man and I want to know him.”

 

Arthur laughed out loud.  


“What in the heavens name is your fascination with Harry bloody Kane?”

 

Merlin shrugged.

 

“He is the best thing about the whole ordeal so let me have this. Are you going to translate or not?”

 

“Uh. _Harry Kane est un bel homme et je veux le... connaître_?”

 

Merlin grinned.

 

“Damnit. If you continue like this, beer is going to be in your bloody future, Pendragon. I have no idea if I should be proud or outraged. Alright. Uhm... I love football but I do not love Harry Kane.”

 

Arthur laughed.

 

“J'adore le foot mais je n'adore pas Harry Kane?”

The little smile was back.

“Good. And er, hold on, long one incoming. I love my best friend Merlin for watching football with me even though he does not like it. He is my best friend in the world and really I love him more than Harry Kane.”

 

Arthur swallowed audibly. He suddenly felt like he couldn't breathe. They didn't usually just throw words like these around and he knew that Merlin was kidding but he had no idea, had he? He just... he just had no clue.

 

“ _Je... je... j'aime mon ami Merlin_ ,” he started, trying to breathe in and out through his nose steadily as to not shake too much, “ _parce qu'il_ _regarde le football avec moi, même s'il n'aime pas ça. C'est mon meilleur ami et je l'aime vraiment plus que Harry Kane_.”

 

He looked up, feeling light headed and hot all over only to look into Merlin's smug face.

 

“Booyah, nailed it. Got your negatives, your adverbs, your comparatives... aced it as a tutor, I did!”

 

He grinned and stood up.

 

“Well done, Arthur,” he said enthusiastically and made his way to the door.

“You really have earned your football time and beer. I'll be right back!”

 

And then, it was silent. And Arthur was glad for it. He needed to calm down. Because even though Merlin didn't see it that way, for him it felt like he'd just laid his feelings bare for all the world to see and he felt vulnerable like he never had before. He took a deep breath and turned on the TV, Harry Kane's face already all over it.

 

Arthur sighed. He could do this. He could absolutely, definitely do this.

 


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6: L'Imparfait

 

Arthur was over the bloody moon. Semi-finals, could you believe it? He certainly couldn't and by the look of it, neither could Merlin.

“Does that mean more football?” he'd groaned at the end of the match but Arthur had just taken hold of his shoulders and shook him before yelling: “More football!”

 

Life was good. So good in fact, that Arthur woke up whistling on Sunday morning. Whistling _Football's coming home_ of all things, as he prepared breakfast for him and Merlin. He could get used to seeing Merlin's sleeping form on his sofa. Even though he did feel bad about Merlin having to sleep on that saggy old thing. He should be sleeping in a comfortable proper bed. Like his own. He should just... No. He couldn't very well propose them sleeping together in Arthur's bed, could he?

 

When Merlin woke up complaining about a headache and a crink in his neck – again, Arthur didn't even think about it.

“You should sleep in my bed,” he blurted out.

 

He made sure not to look at Merlin, keeping his eyes firmly on the baked beans he was currently heating up in a sauce pan.

 

Silence stretched between them.

 

“What?”

Arthur turned around then and looked into Merlin's shocked face.

 

“Listen, you're only here because I fucked up bad, yeah? It's not like we haven't shared a room – or bed for that matter before. Remember the school trip to Wales?”

 

He could see that Merlin did remember, as his friend scrunched up his nose. That had been a bit of a horror trip, that one.

 

“See? Can't be worse than that, can it. Bed's big enough. You've got your own pillow and blanket so just... stop being a wuss and just... sleep in the bed.”

 

He turned back around, mainly to keep Merlin from seeing the blush that had creep its way onto Arthur's features. He felt hot all over and hoped that Merlin wouldn't see that.

 

“Okay,” came the soft reply behind him and then he was left alone in the kitchen, instantly feeling the loss of Merlin's presence.

 

“Okay,” Arthur sighed and finished up before making his way to the dining room table.

“Okay,” he echoed, bracing himself for the day.

 

***  
  
“So we talked about passé composé yesterday,” Merlin started, shuffling papers about so that he didn't have to look at Arthur.

“Today, we're gonna tackle the only other form of past you'll need to know, the L'Imparfait.”

 

Arthur nodded and already started holding his head. He hated those two. He could never tell them apart.

“Okay,” Merlin continued, very slowly because he knew that Arthur had a lot of trouble with this.

“Rule first, then we'll talk about the troubles you have with keeping passé composé and l'imparfait apart, sound good?”

 

“Yeah,” Arthur nodded but wanted to scream 'no' from the top of his lungs. He hated this with a passion.

 

“Good. So, rule is faily simple. We use the stem word of the first person plural so whatever you'd use for ' _nous_ ' and add endings. For _je_ and _tu_ we add _-ais_. For _il_ , we add _-ait_. _Nous_ , we add _-ions_ , _vous_ , we add – _iez_ and for _ils_ , we add - _aient_.”

 

“So, _Je voulais_ ,” Arthur started slowly with one of the words he used the most, “ _tu voulais, il voulait, nous voulions, vous vouliez and ils voulaient_?”

 

Merlin smiled and nodded.

 

“Yes, Arthur, yes. There is only one exception, I promise. That's être. We still have the same endings but the first person plural would be 'sommes'. We use the base _ét_ \- here. So _j'ét-ais. Tu ét-ais, il ét-ait_... and so on. Yeah?”

 

Arthur did know _j'étais_ already so he just nodded, figuring that would be fine.

 

“Okay uhm, what else...” Merlin let his eyes roam over the page.

“Well this is going to make sense but I'll tell you anyway: _il pleut_ and _il faut_ – it is raining and you have to – are both only really existing in the third person singular so the only l'imparfait that exists is _il pleuvait_ and _il fallait_ – does that make sense?”

 

Arthur nodded. It did actually. He just hoped he'd remember that in his exam.

 

“Good,” Merlin smiled, satisfied.

“Now. I'll give you sentences and you tell me if passé composé or l'imparfait, yeah?”

 

“Alright.”

 

“In the letter I sent to you this morning, I forgot to give you the recipe for the crêpes.”

 

Arthur looked pointedly at Merlin.

 

“Complaining about breakfast, are we?”

 

Merlin smirked. “Translate the sentence, Arthur.”

 

Arthur made a mental note to have crêpes ready the next morning, before he said:

 

“ _Dans la lettre que je t'ai envoyée ce matin, j'ai oublié de te donner la recette des crêpes_?”

 

Merlin nodded.

 

“But there wasn't l'imparfait in there!”

 

“I know. Let me handle this, will you? I can't have you bloody expect it, can I?” he looked pointedly at him before reading on:

“Good, next one: Yesterday, Harry picked me up, I ate and spent the afternoon at his place.”

 

“Harry, huh?”

 

“Translate the sentence, Arthur.”

 

“ _Hier, Harry est venu me chercher, j'ai mangé et j'ai passé l'après-midi chez lui_.”

 

“My, my, such a gentleman he seems to be,” Merlin smirked at the table, obviously very satisfied with himself.

 

“Oh come off it,” Arthur mumbled.

 

“Well I'm not pining for football players, am I?”

 

Arthur arched an eyebrow.

 

“Pining? You think I'm pining? Oh Merls, lovely, lovely Merls, you've not seen me pine if you think me freaking out about a bloke scoring goals for my football team is pining,” Arthur says bitterly, scrunching his nose up and standing up abruptly.

 

“Maybe we'll keep the sentences off football from now on, yeah?” he said, sudden wave of emotions rushing over him as he looked at Merlin biting at his lips, reading through the rest of the sentences.

Merlin shrugged.

 

“Sorry, I didn't know you'd lose it like that, I thought you might – I don't know – enjoy it more if we'd have personalised practice sentences, yeah?”

 

He was clearly uncomfortable so Arthur just took a deep breath and sat back down. How dense could Merlin be? Everyone and their mother could see what a pining Pendragon really looked like. And he was pining. A lot. But not over a bloody football player.

Just as well, he thought as he directed his gaze back to the French book in front of him, Merlin being oblivious was better than Merlin _knowing_ anyway.

 

“Good, then. Last one. I wasn't satisfied because I wanted more,” he swallowed audibly, “I wanted coffee and I wanted to sleep.”

 

Arthur stared at Merlin long and hard, not really knowing what to make of their situation. Were they still strictly practicing? But he didn't want to go all: Merlin would you like some coffee, either. That would be awkward. So he just went for:

 

“ _Je n'étais pas content parce que je voulais plus de café et je voulais dormir_.”

 

Merlin nodded.

 

“Good, yeah, good.”

 

He sounded a bit breathless.

 

“I think we should wrap it up for today, yeah?” Merlin's glanced at his watch.

 

“I need to go to uhm... quickly and I'll... I'll be back tonight and you do... some vocab work?”

 

And with that, he was out of the door.

 

Arthur sighed and ran his hand through his hair.

 

“Well then,” he said to himself.

“ _Je mange, tu manges, il mange, nous mangeons, vous mangez, ils mangent.._.”

 

He sighed and tried again:

 

“ _To go. Aller. Je vais, tu vas, il va, nous allons, vous allez, ils vont..._ ”

 

He soon gave up. He didn't feel like doing much vocab work without Merlin's support and his constant smile and he couldn't help but feeling like he'd done something very, very wrong.

 


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sooo... this was written the day before yesterday so at the France/Belgium match! I only just get to upload it now!

Chapter 7: pronouns

 

Merlin didn't come back that night.

 

He came back early the next Morning when Arthur was already hunched over his French text book and sat down as if nothing had happened.

 

“Pronouns today then?” he asked and Arthur simply stared at him.

“So you didn't come back yesterday.”

 

“The thing with pronouns is that...”

 

“Merlin.”

 

“Arthur.”

 

Arthur looked pointedly at him until Merlin sighed.

 

“Yeah, well, I had a thing and it took me longer than I thought and then I didn't want to wake you by coming back here, okay?”

 

Arthur was quite sure that Merlin was lying but decided to let it go. For now. So he just nodded and got Merlin a cup of coffee while the other kicked off his shoes under the table, pulled his legs up onto the chair and sat on them.

 

“Pronouns, Arthur.

 

“If you say pronouns one more time...”

 

“Well I wouldn't have to if you'd tell me which ones you know.”

 

“Well le pronom personnel...”

 

“Which are?”

 

“ _Je, tu, il, elle, nous, vous, ils_ and _elles_ and le pronom personnel tonique is the _moi, toi, lui, elle, nous, vous, eux, elles_ business.”

 

“Jep. Any other pronouns you know?”

 

“Well the ones for objects... _le, la les,”_ he didn't care if his answers seemed a bit harsher than they would normally. He just wanted to get this over and done with so he could find out what was really bothering Merlin.

 

“Good,” Merlin scratched his head. Arthur was on edge. How could Merlin just sit there as if everything was normal?

“Anything else?”

 

“The indirect ones... _lui_ and er, _leur_...”

 

“When do you use those?”

 

“When we talk about someone in the third person but indirectly? Like... What are you buying Merlin for his birthday? I'm buying _him_ a book, yeah?”

 

“Care to translate that?”

 

Arthur sighed. He certainly didn't feel up to any bloody translating just now.

“ _Qu'est-ce que tu achètes à Merlin pour son anniversaire? Je lui achète un livre_?”

 

“ _Oui_ ,” Merlin smiled. “ _Tu sais que j'adore les livres, non_?”

 

Arthur sighed. “ _Oui, je sais, bien sûr que je sais_.”

 

“Good and _leur._..?”

 

“Is the plural.”

 

“Good, yeah,” Merlin turned a page in the book and started biting at his finger nail. A nervous habit of his that made Arthur even more nervous.

 

“How about the indirect and direct object pronouns?”

 

“You mean the _me, te, se, nous_ and _vous_?”

 

“Yes. You clear on them?”

 

“Yes,” Arthur thought so at least. It wasn't that they were immediately challenging, not like...

 

“What about _y_ and _en_ , then?”

 

“Horrible.”

 

“Thought so.”

 

“No you don't understand, those two are like the bane of my whole existence.”

  
Merlin chuckled.

  
“Well, lets get to it, then. _En_. What do you know about _en_?”

 

Arthur's face was blank.

 

“Nothing, literally don't get it except that I know it's horrible.”

 

“That's because you never bothered properly looking at it because if you had you'd know that it isn't horrible at all,” Merlin sighed.

 

“Look. _En_ is basically just here to... shorten stuff. Its here to make it easier for your lazy arse so be thankful. Here's an example. I ask you: _Tu bois de la limonade_? And you coud say: _Oui, je bois de la limonade_. But you could also says: _Oui, J'en bois_. I could ask _As-tu des chats_? And you could say _Oui, J'en ai plusieurs_. Got it?”

 

Arthur scratched his head.

 

“Why _J'en ai_ , though? Why not J'ai en?”

 

“That's just how it is, the En always stands in front of the verb.”

 

Arthur nodded in understanding. “Give me another question.”

 

“Alright, _Veux-tu de l'eau minérale_?”

“ _Oui, J'en prends un verre_?”

 

Merlin nodded, eyes shining. “Very good. See, en is not so bad, is it?”

 

Arthur scratched his head again.

“I suppose not.”

 

“The thing to remember is, we can use it to stand in for objects like we just did. Or for places. Like _A quelle heure es-tu sorti de la discothèque? - J'en suis ressorti vers 11 heures._ ”

 

Arthur nodded. “Right, yeah, that makes sense.”

 

Merlin searched Arthur's face for something only known to him and finally sighed. “Right, onto the _y_?”

 

Arthur nodded. He could do this. And then he'd find out why Merlin didn't come home last night.

 

“Okay, so _y_ is really easy as well,” Merlin mumbled, eyes scanning the page.

 

“We use this one if we are talking about a place, yeah? Mainly. So if the sentence has something to do with, like... going somewhere or taking something somewhere or taking something someplace, we can exchange that for y, yeah? Example: _Vas-tu à Tours? Nous y allons aussi_. Or, _Vas-tu au match the tennis? Non, je n'y vais pas_. Yeah?”

 

Arthur nodded. “Now give me a question.”

 

“ _D'accord. Tu penses à la clé?_ ” Merlin fixed Arthur with a hard stare.

“Well, that is not very place related, is it?” Arthur asked.

 

Merlin shook his head. “No, but this is the second thing we can use it for. We could substitute “ _à la clé_ ” with it. It doesn't quite work in English but you'll just have to cope. So, Will you remember it? Yes I will remember it. It can be substituted by y as well. So the answer is _Oui, j'y pense_.” he paused to look at Arthur and wait a moment before continuing: “We can also use it for 'about it' I guess or for... 'with', I suppose... So okay, examples for those two: _Tu réfléchis à mon probleme? Oui, j'y réfléchis._ See? Do you think about my problem, yes I think about it. Now, _Tu joues aux cartes? - J'y joue tout le temps_. Do you play with cards? Yes I play with them all the time. Do you see what I'm doing?”

 

Arthur just held his head in his hands. Sure, if Merlin said it like that it did make sense. It really did. But it also sounded too complicated to make sense. So many bloody extra sentences. Why could there not be one word for every situation? He nodded anyway.

 

“Yeah, yeah I get it.”

 

“Good,” was all Merlin said before standing up.

 

“So look... I uhm, need to leave for a bit again. But I'll be back this evening for the football, yeah?”

 

Arthur looked at him like he'd just seen a ghost.

 

“Why would you be back for the football?”

 

Merlin shrugged.

 

“It's the last what? Four games now? Might as well watch them with you, yeah?”

 

He pulled his shoes back on.

 

“Alrighty, see ya later, Arthur.”

 

Before Arthur could even retort something, the door has clicked shut and he was alone again. He had no idea what he had done but he had every intention of finding out.

 

 


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8: Plus-que-parfait

 

The next time Merlin came through the door, it was Friday and Arthur was well on edge. He hadn't slept well, always listening for the door or his phone, trying to give Merlin space but wondering where the hell his friend was and what the hell he'd done wrong. Of course, the fact that his team had been kicked out of the world cup didn't help matters much. Especially since Merlin had promised to be there and just... hadn't been.

 

When Merlin finally did knock, Arthur went to open with a strained smile on his face. His jaw was set and he didn't say a word before making his way back into the kitchen. He tried very hard not to think about the fact that Merlin looked like a kicked puppy, either.

 

“Hey,” Merlin finally said, quiet and soft from behind Arthur while Arthur busied himself making a Sandwich.

 

“Hey,” he replied, not caring that it sounded somewhat cold.

 

“Ready for French?”

 

Arthur turned around and fixed Merlin with a hard stare.

“Really? That's what you're going with? You leave, tell me you'll be back fucking _later,_ and come back two days after that and you're just not gonna... address that at all?” he held his hands up in surrender, “you know what, Merlin? It's fine. I'm not your boyfriend, you don't have any obligations towards me. I am thankful you're studying so hard with me, I really am. But next time? Reply to my texts, yeah? Because I didn't leave the bloody house just in case you were coming back.”

 

He finally took a deep breath and ran his hand through his hair, nodding to himself.

“Yeah, let's do French then.”

Without looking at him, he walked past Merlin and sat down at the table, starting to pick at his sandwich.

 

Merlin joined him a second later.

“Je suis desolé, truly,” he said quietly, eyes fixed on the table.

“You're right, I should have called at least. I... I don't even know. I don't have an explanation except that I was a shitty friend.”

 

Arthur nodded and set his sandwich aside.

“So I just started plus-que-parfait, care to explain this to me, then?”

Merlin nodded and dragged the book towards him, taking a look at the explanations.

“I'm sorry about football, by the way.”

 

“That's fine, I watched it by myself.”

 

“I mean that the team lost.”

 

Merlin looked up and this was the first time their eyes met during their whole conversation. Merlin looked sincere and Arthur didn't know why but something inside him started fluttering violently. _Do not give in so easily_ , he chided himself.

 

“You must have been sad.”

 

Arthur nodded.

 

“Cried a bit.”

 

A small smile tucked on Merlin's lips.

“Good I wasn't here to see that, don't think I could have coped with that, actually.”

 

Arthur didn't know what to reply to that, so a comfortable silence settled over them while Arthur had his breakfast and Merlin read.

 

“Good,” Merlin finally said.

“Ah, okay, this is the tense I sometimes get confused with myself, I didn't even know you had to know this.”

 

Arthur held up the mock exam and nodded.

“Right there,” he tapped on the page and Merlin nodded.

“Very well. So plus-que-parfait is basically another form of the past. But something... paster than past. Like when I tell you... I had been nervous before going out but it was okay, I suppose. I think. I actually never understood this very well but yeah. So you use it to say something that happened before something else happened that was also in the past, make sense?”

 

Arthur groaned.

“Fucking tenses, I swear this is really annoying.”

 

Merlin nodded in agreement.

“Yeah, quite.”

 

“So what we do is we take a verb that we'd conjugate with _avoir_ and we take it in the imparfait and uh, we add the participle. So... _J'avais travaillé_. Or _tu avais pris_ , _il avait mangé_ and so on. Except for the words we would usually conjugate with _être_ because those we use with well... _être_. And the participle. But beware of female forms here. So it's _J'étais allé(e). tu étais sorti(e). Il était parti(e)_. Yeah?”

 

Another groan.

“Oh fuck me, this is really complicated.”

 

Merlin shrugged.

“Just... you know take _avoir_ in the imparfait and _être_ in the imparfait and then use the word you'd use for passé composé. It's basically a mixture of the two.”

 

“Why do we need it, then?”

 

“So that we know that something happened before the other thing happened that also happened in the past,” Merlin deadpanned and Arthur really tried but he couldn't keep the grin on his face.

 

“Touché.”

 

Merlin smiled.

 

“You're gonna get there.”

 

“I only have three days left, Merlin. No way I'm gonna get anywhere but it's nice of you to believe in me.”

 

Merlin's smile turned somewhat sad, which is why Arthur quickly asked:

 

“Are there any exception rules?”

 

Merlin consulted the book once more.

 

“Nope. You're all good, that's it.”

 

Arthur nodded.

 

“Sounds good, I can live with that.”

 

***  
  
The rest of the day was spend with a lot of more vocab training and more than uncomfortable silences in between. Arthur couldn't help but feel rejected. It couldn't be a coincidence that Merlin decided to leave and not come back for two days the minute he suggests sleeping in the same bed, could it? Which lead to more uncomfortable questions: did Merlin know? Was he aware of Arthur's feelings and uncomfortable?

 

Whatever it was, when they were sitting side by side, more space between them than there had ever been before, Arthur said:

“I'm going to bed then. I assume you'll be taking the sofa? Or are you leaving?”

He played with a lose thread on the sofa, not daring to look at his friend.

There was a pause.

“Are you taking the sleeping in your bed offer back?” Merlin finally asked, which was when Arthur looked up, surprised.

 

“I thought the offer was why you left. I thought you were uncomfortable.”

“Non. Je voudrais dormi dans ton lit... avec toi.”

Merlin blushed and Arthur stopped for a second.

“C'est vrai?”

“Oui. Je pense que ton lit est plus confortable que le canapé...”

Arthur nodded.

“Viens avec moi, alors,” he said and stood up, making his way to the bedroom.

He changed into his joggers and his sleeping shirt before brushing his teeth, only watching Merlin do the same from the corner of his eye. It was so incredibly awkward and nerve-wrecking and so bloody domestic. And Arthur really felt completely and utterly out of his depth when he laid down next to Merlin, pulling his blanket over the two of them.

“Bonne nuit,” Merlin whispered, his face only illuminated by the moonlight from the window.

Arthur swallowed hard.

“Bonne nuit,” he croaked and closed his eyes, knowing full well that he wouldn't be sleeping for a single second that night.

 

 


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I apologise for the following silliness :D

Chapter 9: Le contitionnel présent and le futur simple

 

Of course, Arthur didn't sleep at all.

He felt groggy and tired when he found himself back at the dining room table, surrounded by his notebook, the French books and the various pages of random mock exam questions.

 

He looked at Merlin, who was biting his lip in concentration and sighed.

 

“This is not a good day,” he mumbled just as Merlin said:

“I think we should do two lessons today.”

 

“Two lessons?” Arthur thought he could barely survive one.

 

Merlin nodded.

  
“Yes, two. Because your exam is on Monday morning. That gives us today and tomorrow. We have two lessons left. I want tomorrow to be revision for you so you'll just have to suck it up and do both lessons today, Pendragon.”

 

Merlin's tone definitely didn't leave room for discussion so Arthur just sighed. At least the bite in Merlin seemed to be back and Arthur was grateful for it. The quiet, shy boy from the day before wasn't a Merlin he knew how to deal with.

 

He nodded.

“Very well, then.”

 

“Good, le futur simple.”

 

“More temps? Seriously?”

 

Merlin just stared him down and repeated.

“Le futur simple,” he paused, “rule one. If you have verbs that end on -er, you take the verb in the first person and choose the right ending. Example: _Regarder. Je regarde-rai. Tu regarde-ras, il regarde-ra, nous regarde-rons, vous regarde-rez, ils regarde-ront_.”

 

Arthur snorted and Merlin stared at him in confusion.

 

“Is something funny?”

 

Arthur shook his head. “No, just the way you pronounced the endings... I mean when you said _regarde-rons_ , I just started picturing different kinds of Ron Weasley's for the different endings and...”

He took a look at Merlin's confused face and coloured instantly.

“Nevermind,” he mumbled.

 

Merlin shook his head.

“No! I mean, no. Do explain,” he smiled. “Anything so you'll remember it later.”

 

Arthur nodded again. “So obviously _Nous regarde-rons_ is like us Rons, yeah? A group of ready to go out and party Ron Weasley's, all confident and shit. Like yeah, this is us, this is us Rons. Like in Half-Blood Prince when Quidditch is going really well? Like that. _Nous_ are freaking _-rons_.”

 

Merlin broke out in hysteric laughter at that.

“What the fuck are you even on about, Arthur?”

 

Arthur grinned.

“Just, hold on. Right, so -r _ai_ is kind of like I am one Ron, yeah? And what is one Ron Weasley? A freaking Ray of Sunshine is what.”

 

Merlin's grin got wider.

“You're such a bloody dork.”

 

“ _Tu -ras_. Like someone talking to a Ron and trying to tell him how rad he is? But not getting the words out correctly? Going 'damn, you're really _ras_ , you know that? I mean _ras_... I mean rad.'”

 

Merlin just shook his head, giggling.

 

“Same thing with _Il._ We have people who are so blinded by the awesomeness that is Ron, that they'll just drop the d completely when talking about him. Him? Oh he's _-ra_ , isn't he? Yeah, mate, he sure is. The _-ra_ -est ever.”

 

“Oh Arthur, stop,” Merlin pleaded, squeezing his eyes shut.

 

Arthur grinned and continued.

“ _Vous_ is obviously the same deal as tu but in seriously like... much more respect? Like a kid going up to him going: Sir, Ron, sir? You are seriously _Rez_. And for the last one, again, more than one Ron but not talking about themselves but having other people talk about them are very _-ront_.”

 

He stopped, looking very pleased with himself.

 

There was a silence between them before Merlin said:

“God, Arthur, you are such a nerd.”

 

Arthur nodded.

“And proud. Now, go on, Obi wan, what else do I need to know about this simple Ron-future?”

 

Merlin shrugged.

“With all the other endings you just generally take the verb as is until the 'r' and put your Ron endings on that.”

 

Arthur nodded, quite happy with himself.

“But beware,” Merlin continued, “of the irregular forms.”

 

Arthur scrunched up his nose.

“I hate those.”

 

Merlin nodded.

“That's why I'll tell you some and you'll make up a stupid story, deal?”

 

Arthur nodded. “Deal.”

“ _Être. Se_ +ron”

“I am a C-Ron.”

 

“ _Avoir, Au_ -ron”

“I have Au ron”

“That doesn't even make sense.”

“Shht, Merlin, just leave me be.”

 

“ _Faire. Fe_ -Ron”

“I will make a fairy out of Ron”

 

“ _Aller. I_ -Ron”

“I will go to Ron Capital I Immediately.”

 

“ _Savoir. Sau_ -Ron”

“I know Ron eats like a pig.”

“What does that got to do with anything?”

Arthur shrugged.

“I know Sau is pig in German.”

Merlin stared at him.

“Are you seriously bringing a third language into this?”

Another shrug.

Merlin rolled his eyes.

 

“ _Il pleut_ – _Il pleuvra_.”

“That sounds like Ginevra just with rain, which is what siblings would jibe at each other, no? You're like rain?”

 

“Right... Okay, _Voir. Ver_ -Ron”

“I see a fair Ron.”

“Fair?”

“As in pretty, Merlin. Fair as in pretty. I see a pretty Ron.”

Merlin giggled again.

“Fucking idiot.”

 

“ _Pouvoir. Pour_ -Ron”

“I can do anything pour Ron”

 

“ _Venir. Viend_ -Ron”

“I'll come to defend Ron.”

“Why defend?”

“Cause viend kind of sounds like it?”

“It doesn't. It really doesn't.”

Arthur shrugged.

“Does to me.”

 

Merlin shook his head.

“If you can remember all of these on Monday, I will be so proud, I swear.”

 

Arthur grinned.

“I will. I think I actually might.”

 

***  
After a light lunch, Arthur felt much better than that Morning. He did have two coffee's though, which meant he knew that he would crash very early on. And they needed to be done before football of course (which Merlin wasn't very happy about).

 

“Good, ready for your second lesson?”

Arthur nodded, albeit grimacing.

 

“If I must.”

 

“You must,” Merlin deadpanned and dragged the book towards him, flipping through it to find the right page.

 

“Right, Le contitionnel présent. Good news is, Arthur, that this is super easy now that we've done the future. Because this is basically to... well, you use le contitionnel présent if you want to ask for something nicely. Or if you want to repeat something that you've heard. You already know a couple of these and we've been using them already, for example _Je voudrais_ and _J'aimerais_.”

 

Arthur nodded. This really sounded do-able.

  
“So basically, the rule is the same with the -Rons. Only your Rons are a bit different. You have the endings _Je -rais, Tu -rais, Il -rait, Nous -rions, Vous -riez_ and _Ils -raient_.”

 

Arthur shook his head.

“Yeah, no Rons in there.”

 

Merlin nodded.

“No, no Rons. But the rest is the same, yeah? Just think of it as... I dunno. The rise of the Ron – friendliness wise.”

 

Arthur arched an eyebrow.

“Rise of the Ron?”

 

Merlin blushed.

“Because -rais? No? Alrighty, moving on. But yeah that's literally basically it.”

 

“Phew. So loads of Ron going into the futur simple and the being friendly, huh?”

 

Merlin smiled a small, secret smile that Arthur didn't really know what to make of.

“Loads of Ron.”

 

Arthur gulped and ran his hand through his hair as a nervous gesture. He really was in over his head and he had no idea if babbling on about a fictional character had just helped him or not. He needed to do something drastic. He needed to know if and what Merlin knew. And if he didn't know anything... Arthur thought that... he might have to tell Merlin.

 

Because it was getting harder and harder to keep his feelings under wraps. Especially now, especially with them being so close. Especially with Arthur's possible expulsion hanging over them. Arthur bit his bottom lip, trying to think of a way to make himself and his feelings clear without taking any risks. But he'd just raved about Ron, hadn't he? And Ron had taken plenty risks. And yes, Arthur knew that he was just a fictional character, but maybe it was time for him to do the same. Maybe it was time for him to Ron up. The question was, how best to do it?

 


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay so as there is one huge ass letter in French in there, I did translate that one in English at the end :) Other than that... ONE more chapter to come! I cannot believe the test is tomorrow... ahhh wish me luck!

Chapter 10: La lettre

 

Arthur woke up before Merlin and spent his waking moments looking at the sleeping form next to him. His heart felt heavy in his chest. He really couldn't be any more gone for that boy and he knew it.

Slowly, he made his way out of bed, trying to be as quiet as possible as to not wake Merlin up.

 

He tiptoed into the kitchen to make some breakfast and to think about his plan.

The plan to present his feelings on a silver platter.

It was his last chance, really. Merlin would go back home today, back to his own flat, to his own life. Arthur would take the French test early tomorrow morning... And then they would either continue studying together or Arthur would have to find something else to do. Without Merlin by his side.

 

Depending on the outcome of his plan, that was the preferable option though, his mind supplied. So best not find out what Merlin had to say before he'd written the French test.

 

With his coffee and toast, he sat down at the dining room table, grabbed his notebook and a pen and began to write.

 

_Cher Merlin,_

 

_Je ne suis pas doué avec mots mais je vais essayer pour toi._

_Parce que tu es tout pour moi. Parce que tu es mon meilleur ami et je t'adore._

_Mais je ne t'adore pas parce que tu es mon ami seulment. Je suis amoureux de toi._

_Je suis amoureux de toi pendant des années._

_Mais je suis terrifé que tu ne m'aimes pas en retour._

_C'est pourquoi je n'ai jamais rien dit... mais maintenant..._

_Maintenant j'ai peur de te perdre._

_(c'est génial comme il est facile de l'admettre dans une autre langue)_

 

_T e souviens-tu du jour où nous nous sommes rencontrés?_

_Tu étais vraiment agaçant ._

_Je suis tombé amoureux de tois alors._

 

_Tu es extraordinaire, Merlin._

_Tu es gentil et drôle et généreux._

_Tu est le plus bel homme que je connaisse ._

 

_Je ne veux jamais être sans toi._

_Je voudrais être avec toi pour toujours. Je voudrais être avec toi même après l'université._

_Si tu veux bien de moi, je serai un super colocataire (et un génial petit ami aussi)._

 

_Bon... c'est tout ce que je voulais dire. Excepté que: Merci. Merci beaucoup pour tout._

 

  * _Arthur_




 

Writing about his feelings in another language was both harder and easier than writing about them in English, Arthur found. One, writing “je suis amoureux de toi” was easier for him to write than “I am in love with you”. Maybe because of the weight the English words had for him.

He knew that the words he'd chosen, the things he'd said in the letter were both very heartfelt and heavy. Mainly because he couldn't give Merlin a more nuanced version which he would have done in English. No I fancy you a little bit. I like you. I like like you. He simply didn't know the French vocabulary for it.

He didn't hate it, though. The foreign language forced him to own up to his feelings and not hide behind the many, many words he could choose in his own language. He couldn't talk himself out of it. Not make them sound less even if he felt them just the way he'd put them on the paper.

 

Before he could change his mind, he folded the page up and put it in Merlin's jacket pocket. He knew that Merlin would only leave tonight and therefore would probably find the letter at home. Far away from Arthur.

 

Arthur only hoped that he would wait until after Arthur's exam to talk to him about it.

With a new level of nervous energy, Arthur sat back down and went to revising, only looking up when Merlin stumbled into the living room, all easy smiles and bed-head.

 

For a second, Arthur was terribly afraid of the moment when Merlin would find the letter. What if it would change everything? And not in a good way? What if Merlin not texting him back and not talking to him like it had been just a few nights ago would be the new normal?

 

Failing that exam wouldn't seem to bad under those circumstances.

 

Arthur shook his head and huffed. He was being over dramatic. He leaned back over his list of irregular verbs and made himself concentrate. One problem at a time. French now, worrying about Merlin tomorrow. As easy as that.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> La lettre:
> 
> Dear Merlin,   
> I am not good with words but I will try for you.  
> Because you are everything to me. Because you are my best friend and I love you.   
> But I don't just love you because you're my friend. I am in love with you.   
> I have been in love with you for years.   
> But I am terrified that you won't love me back, which is why I never said anything but now...  
> Now I'm afraid of losing you.  
> (It's great how easy it is to admit all of this in another language)
> 
> Can you remember the day we first met?  
> You were really annoying.  
> I fell in love with you right then. 
> 
> You are extraordinary, Merlin.  
> You are kind and funny and generous.   
> You are the most handsome man that I know. 
> 
> I never want to be without you.  
> I would like to be with you always. I want to be with you after university.   
> If you'll have me, I am a great roommate (and an amazing boyfriend, too).
> 
> Good... That's all I wanted to say... Except for: Thank you. Thank you for everything.
> 
> \- Arthur


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thaaank you for coming along on the ride :)

Chapter 11: fin

 

When Arthur walked out of the classroom, it was already dark outside. He sighed as he ran his hand through his hair. He did fill everything out, which was good he supposed. As for the rest, he had absolutely no fucking clue if it would be enough to pass the test. He hoped it would. Oh, he hoped it would.

 

He was just about to leave the building, when his eyes landed on a familiar figure leaning against the wall.

 

Merlin looked unsure, eyes darting between Arthur and the floor and Arthur's heart sank.

 

He did this. He made Merlin unsure with his stupid letter. He really shouldn't have written that.

 

He shook his head. It needed to be said. He needed to say it. There was no use in him continuing on like this, as friends, when what he felt was so much more. Arthur swallowed thickly before making his way over to Merlin, giving him an odd little half-wave along the way.

 

“Hiya,” he said when he was in hearing distance.

 

“How did the test go?”

 

Arthur nodded, sighed, nodded again.

“I think... oh god, I actually have no idea. To be honest. I mean I understood everything and I didn't even panic once but you know.. it's always hard to say when you're struggling with a subject, yeah?”

 

Merlin nodded in understanding, eyes back on the floor and feet shuffling.

“So uh, I found your letter.”

 

Arthur nodded, suddenly in desperate need of a wall to lean against. Or somewhere to sit. But he stood his ground. Whatever happened would have happened anyway, only a bit further down the road.

 

“Thought you might,” he mumbled, not able to look at Merlin.

“Listen, if I've made you uncomfortable or anything...”

 

“I need you to pass that test, Pendragon,” Merlin interrupted him sternly.

 

Arthur's eyes landed on Merlin's and his facial features didn't show any kind of confusion anymore. Merlin looked determined. Sure of himself. Arthur thought the look was very hot.

 

“Yeah, would be nice.”

 

“No, you don't understand.” Merlin didn't move an inch.

 

“You cannot write me a fucking love letter in French and then get kicked out of uni. That's just not on,” he grit out before lunging himself at Arthur, hugging him, arms thrown around his neck. Arthur's eyes widened with surprise and he settled his hands on Merlin's hips before saying:

“Well it wasn't a _love letter_ , was it?”

 

He could hear Merlin giggle from behind him.

“If you'd ever get famous, people would be printing that letter in poetry anthologies in a couple hundred years. That's how bloody lovely it was.”

 

Arthur realised in that exact moment that while the hugging was nice, now that they had established that Arthur had written an actual letter confessing his feelings, he hadn't gotten an answer yet.

 

He tensed. Involuntarily. He nuzzled his nose in Merlin's hair and closed his eyes.

 

A hug. And no answer. This wouldn't end good for him, would it?

 

“Stop stressing,” Merlin said and loosened his grip to look at Arthur's face. He studied him, and looking into his eyes said:

“I love you, too.”

 

In that moment, his knees actually gave out and he slowly sank to the floor in Merlin's arms.

“Arthur, what are you doing, get up,” Merlin giggled.

 

“You love me?”

 

Arthur was sprawled on the floor, unable to control his limps as he helplessly stared up at Merlin.

Merlin crouched in front of him, looking sheepish.

 

“Yeah, very much so. Remember when I left and didn't come back for two nights?” he winced, “I was really really overwhelmed by being so close to you all the freaking time. And then I obsessed over you liking the footballer-”

 

“-who is a celeb and whom I don't even think that attractive...”

 

Merlin grinned and shrugged.

 

“Anyway I thought you'd want someone like him. And not...” he gesticulated at himself.

 

“And I couldn't stand it anymore. I am sorry I left, I really am. I am not as brave as you were. That letter, it...” Arthur could see tears forming in Merlin's eyes and he certainly didn't want _that_.

 

So before Merlin could say anything else, Arthur hoisted himself onto his knees, cupped Merlin's face in his hands and kissed him.

 

Arthur had dreamed of this moment time and time again but none of his fantasies had been as amazing as the feeling of Merlin enthusiastically kissing him back.

 

It was everything.

 

It felt like they were kissing forever, when they finally had to break apart to breathe.

“Can we go home?”

 

Arthur asked, thumb stroking Merlin's cheek lightly.

 

Merlin nodded and they got up, French test and awaiting results momentarily forgotten.

 

 


End file.
